Works of W. W. Jacobs

by Jacobs, W. W.

  His daughter was out, and tea for one was laid in the front room. He drew his chair to the table, and taking up the tea-pot, which the maid had just brought in, poured himself out a cup of tea.

  He looked round the comfortable room with pleasure. After all, nobody could take that from him. He stirred his tea and had just raised the cup to his lips when he set it down untasted and sat staring blankly before him. A low rumble of voices from the kitchen fell unpleasantly on his ear; and his daughter Joan had left instructions too specific to be misunderstood as to his behaviour in the event of Rosa entertaining male company during her absence. He coughed twice, loudly, and was glad to note the disappearance of the rumble. Pleased with his success he coughed a third time, a sonorous cough charged with importance. A whispered rumble, possibly a suggestion of withdrawal, came from the kitchen.

  “Only his tea gone the wrong way,” he heard, reassuringly, from Rosa.

  The rumble, thus encouraged, deepened again. It became confident and was heard to laugh. Mr. Hartley rose and, standing on the hearthrug with legs apart, resolved to play the man. He leaned over and rang the bell. The voices stopped. Then he heard Rosa say, “Not him! you stay where you are.”

  She came slowly in response to the bell, and thrusting a yellow head in at the door gazed at him inquiringly.

  “I — I want a little more hot water,” said her master, mildly.

  “More?” repeated Rosa. “Why, I brought you over a pint.”

  “I want some more,” said Mr. Hartley. Then a bright thought struck him. “I am expecting Miss Joan home every minute,” he added, significantly.

  Rosa tossed her head. “She ain’t coming home till nine,” she remarked, “so if it’s only for her you want the hot water, you won’t want it.”

  “I — I thought I heard a man’s voice,” he said at last.

  “Very good,” said her master, with an attempt at dignity; “you can go.”

  Rosa went, whistling. Mr. Hartley, feeling that he had done all that could be expected of a man, sat down and resumed his tea. The rumbling from the kitchen, as though in an endeavour to make up for lost time, became continuous. It also became louder and more hilarious. Pale and determined Mr. Hartley rose a second time and, seizing the bell-pull, rang violently.

  “Does anybody want to see me?” he inquired, as Rosa’s head appeared.

  “You? No,” was the reply.

  “I thought,” said her master, gazing steadily at the window, “I thought somebody was inquiring for me.”

  “Well, there hasn’t been,” said Rosa.

  Mr. Hartley, with a magisterial knitting of the brows, which had occasionally been found effective with junior clerks, affected to ponder.

  “I — I thought I heard a man’s voice,” he said at last.

  “Nobody’s been inquiring for you,” said Rosa calmly. “If they did I should come in and let you know. Nobody’s been for you that I’ve heard of, and I don’t see how they could come without me knowing it.”

  “Just so,” said Mr. Hartley. “Just so.”

  He turned to the mantelpiece for his tobacco-jar, and Rosa, after standing for some time at the “ready” with a hostile stare, cleared her throat noisily and withdrew. The voices in the kitchen broke out with renewed vehemence; Mr. Hartley coughed again — a cough lacking in spirit — and, going out at the front door, passed through the side-entrance to the garden and tended his plants with his back to the kitchen window.

  Hard at work at the healthful pastime of weeding, his troubles slipped from him. The path became littered with little tufts of grass, and he was just considering the possibility of outflanking the birch-broom, which had taken up an advantageous position by the kitchen window, when a young man came down the side-entrance and greeted him with respectful enthusiasm.

  “I brought you these,” he said, opening a brown leather bag and extracting a few dried roots. “I saw an advertisement. I forget the name of them, but they have beautiful trumpet-shaped flowers. They are free growers, and grow yards and yards the first year.”

  “And miles and miles the second,” said Mr. Hartley, regarding them with extraordinary ferocity. “Bindweed is the name, and once get it in your garden and you’ll never get rid of it.”

  “That wasn’t the name in the advertisement,” said the other, dubiously.

  “I don’t suppose it was,” said Hartley. “You’ve got a lot to learn in gardening yet, Saunders.”

  “Yes, sir,” said the other; “I’ve got a good teacher, though.”

  Mr. Hartley almost blushed. “And how is your garden getting on?” he inquired.

  “It’s — it’s getting on,” said Mr. Saunders, vaguely.

  “I must come and have a look at it,” said Hartley.

  “Not yet,” said the young man, hastily. “Not yet. I shouldn’t like you to see it just yet. Is Miss Hartley well?”

  Mr. Hartley said she was, and, in an abstracted fashion, led the way down the garden to where an enormous patch of land — or so it seemed to Mr. Saunders — awaited digging. The latter removed his coat and, hanging it with great care on an apple tree, turned back his cuffs and seized the fork.

  “It’s grand exercise,” said Mr. Hartley, after watching him for some time.

  “Grand,” said Mr. Saunders, briefly.

  “As a young man I couldn’t dig enough,” continued the other, “but nowadays it gives me a crick in the back.”

  “Always?” inquired Mr. Saunders, with a slight huskiness.

  “Always,” said Mr. Hartley. “But I never do it now; Joan won’t let me.”

  Mr. Saunders sighed at the name and resumed his digging. “Miss Hartley out?” he asked presently, in a casual voice.

  “Yes; she won’t be home till late,” said the other. “We can have a fine evening’s work free of interruptions. I’ll go and get on with my weeding.”

  He moved off and resumed his task; Mr. Saunders, with a suppressed groan, went on with his digging. The ground got harder and harder and his back seemed almost at breaking-point. At intervals he had what gardeners term a “straight-up,” and with his face turned toward the house listened intently for any sounds that might indicate the return of its mistress.

  “Half-past eight,” said Hartley at last; “time to knock off. I’ve put a few small plants in your bag for you; better put them in in the morning before you start off.”

  Mr. Saunders thanked him, and reaching down his coat put it on and followed Mr. Hartley to the house. The latter, steering him round by the side-entrance, accompanied him to the front gate.

  “If you would like to borrow my roller or lawn-mower at any time,” he said, cordially, “I should be very pleased to lend them to you. It isn’t very far.”

  Mr. Saunders, who would sooner have died than have been seen dragging a roller through the streets, thanked him warmly. With an idea of prolonging his stay, he suggested looking at them.

  “They’re locked up now,” said Mr. Hartley. “See them another time. Good-night.”

  “Good-night,” said Mr. Saunders. “I’ll look in to-morrow evening, if I may.”

  “No use to-morrow,” Mr. Hartley called after him; “there will be nobody at home but Joan.”

  CHAPTER II

  MR. ROBERT VYNER entered upon his new duties with enthusiasm. The second day he was at the office half an hour before anybody else; on the third day the staff competed among themselves for the honour of arriving first, and greeted him as respectfully as their feelings would permit when he strolled in at a quarter to eleven. The arrival of the senior partner on the day following at a phenomenally early hour, for the sake of setting an example to the junior, filled them with despair. Their spirits did not revive until Mr. John had given up the task as inconvenient and useless.

  A slight fillip was given to Robert’s waning enthusiasm by the arrival of new furniture for his room. A large mahogany writing-table, full of drawers and pigeon-holes, gave him a pleasant sense of importance, and the revolving chai
r which went with it afforded a welcome relief to a young and ardent nature. Twice the office-boy had caught the junior partner, with his legs tucked up to avoid collisions, whirling wildly around, and had waited respectfully at the door for the conclusion of the performance.

  “It goes a bit stiff, Bassett,” said the junior partner.

  “Yessir,” said Bassett.

  “I’m trying to ease it a bit,” explained Mr. Robert.

  “Yessir,” said Bassett again.

  Mr. Robert regarded him closely. An undersized boy in spectacles, with a large head and an air of gravity and old age on his young features, which the junior thought somewhat ill-placed for such an occasion.

  “I suppose you never twizzle round on your chair, Bassett?” he said, slowly.

  Bassett shivered at the idea. “No, sir,” he said, solemnly; “I’ve got my work to do.”

  Mr. Robert sought for other explanations. “And, of course, you have a stool,” he remarked; “you couldn’t swing round on that.”

  “Not even if I wanted to, sir,” said the unbending Bassett.

  Mr. Robert nodded, and taking some papers from his table held them before his face and surveyed the youth over the top. Bassett stood patiently to attention.

  “That’s all right,” said the other; “thank you.”

  “Thank you, sir,” said Bassett, turning to the door.

  “By the way,” said Mr. Robert, eying him curiously as he turned the handle, “what exercise do you take?”

  “Exercise, sir?” said Bassett.

  Mr. Robert nodded. “What do you do of an evening for amusement after the arduous toils of the day are past? Marbles?”

  “No, sir,” said the outraged one. “If I have any time to spare I amuse myself with a little shorthand.”

  “Amuse!” exclaimed the other. He threw himself back in his chair and, sternly checking its inclination to twirl again, sought for a flaw in the armour of this paragon. “And what else do you do in the way of recreation?”

  “I’ve got a vivarium, sir.”

  Mr. Robert hesitated, but curiosity got the better of his dignity. “What’s that?” he inquired.

  “A thing I keep frogs and toads in, sir,” was the reply.

  Mr. Robert, staring hard at him, did his honest best to check the next question, but it came despite himself. “Are you — are you married, Bassett?” he inquired.

  Bassett regarded him calmly. “No, sir,” he said, with perfect gravity. “I live at home with my mother.”

  The junior partner gave him a nod of dismissal, and for some time sat gazing round the somewhat severely furnished office, wondering with some uneasiness what effect such surroundings might have on a noble but impressionable temperament. He brought round a few sketches the next day to brighten the walls, and replaced the gum-bottle and other useful ornaments by some German beer-mugs.

  Even with these aids to industry he found the confinement of office somewhat irksome, and, taking a broad view of his duties, gradually relieved Bassett of his errands to the docks. It was necessary, he told himself, to get a thorough grasp of the whole business of ship-owning. In the stokeholds of Vyner and Son’s’ steamships he talked learnedly on coal with the firemen, and, quite unaided, hit on several schemes for the saving of coal — all admirable except for the fact: that several knots per hour would be lost.

  “The thing is to take an all-round view,” he said to Captain Trimblett, of the SS. Indian Chief, as he strolled back with that elderly mariner from the ship to the office one day.

  “That’s it, sir,” said the captain.

  “Don’t waste, and, at the same time, don’t pinch,” continued Mr. Robert, oracularly.

  “That’s business in a nutshell,” commented the captain. “Don’t spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar, and, on the other hand, don’t get leaving the tar about for other people to sit on.”

  “But you got it off,” said Robert, flushing. “You told me you had.”

  “As far as tar ever can be got off,” asserted the captain, gloomily. “Yes. Why I put my best trousers on this morning,” he continued, in a tone of vague wonder, “I’m sure I don’t know. It was meant to be, I suppose; it’s all for some wise purpose: that we don’t know of.”

  “Wise fiddlesticks!” exclaimed Robert, shortly— “Your particular brand of fatalism is the most extraordinary nonsense I ever heard of. What it means: is that thousands of years ago, or millions, perhaps, was decided that I should be born on purpose to tar your blessed trousers.”

  “That and other things,” said the immovable captain. “It’s all laid down for us, everything we do, and we can’t help doing it. When I put on those trousers this morning—”

  “Oh, hang your trousers,” said Robert. “You said it didn’t matter, and you’ve been talking about nothing else ever since.”

  “I won’t say another word about it,” said the captain. “I remember the last pair I had done; a pair o’ white ducks. My steward it was; one o’ those silly, fat-headed, staring-eyed, garping—”

  “Go on,” said the other, grimly.

  “Nice, bright young fellows,” concluded the captain, hastily; “he got on very well, I believe.”

  “After he left you, I suppose?” said Mr. Vyner, smoothly.

  “Yes,” said the innocent captain. He caught a glance of the other’s face and ruminated. “After I had broken him of his silly habits,” he added.

  He walked along smiling, and, raising his cap with a flourish, beamed in a fatherly manner on a girl who was just passing. Robert replaced his hat and glanced over his left shoulder.

  “Who is that?” he inquired. “I saw her the other day; her face seems familiar to me.”

  “Joan Hartley,” replied the captain. “Nathaniel Hartley’s daughter. To my mind, the best and prettiest girl in Salthaven.”

  “Eh?” said the other, staring. “Hartley’s daughter? Why, I should have thought—”

  The best and prettiest girl in Salthaven

  “Yes, sir?” said Captain Trimblett, after a pause.

  “Nothing,” concluded Robert, lamely. “She doesn’t look like it; that’s all.”

  “She’s got his nose,” maintained the captain, with the obstinate air of a man prepared to go to the stake for his opinions. “Like as two peas their noses are; you’d know them for father and daughter anywhere by that alone.”

  Mr. Vyner assented absently. He was wondering where the daughter of the chief clerk got her high looks from.

  “Very clever girl,” continued the captain. “She got a scholarship and went to college, and then, when her poor mother died, Hartley was so lonely that she gave it all up and came home to keep house for him.”

  “Quite a blue-stocking,” suggested Robert.

  “There’s nothing of the blue-stocking about her,” said the captain, warmly. “In fact, I shouldn’t be surprised if she became engaged soon.”

  Mr. Vyner became interested. “Oh!” he said, with an instinctive glance over his left shoulder.

  Captain Trimblett nodded sagely. “Young fellow of the name of Saunders,” he said slowly.

  “Oh!” said the other again.

  “You might have seen him at Wilson’s, the ship-broker’s,” pursued the captain. “Bert Saunders his name is. Rather a dressy youngster, perhaps. Generally wears a pink shirt and a very high stand-up collar — one o’ those collars that you have to get used to.”

  Mr. Vyner nodded.

  “He’s not good enough for her,” said the captain, shaking his head. “But then, nobody is. Looked at that way it’s all right.”

  “You seem to take a great interest in it,” said Robert.

  “He came to me with his troubles,” said Captain Trimblett, bunching up his gray beard in his hand reflectively. “Leastways, he made a remark or two which I took up. Acting under my advice he is taking up gardening.”

  Mr. Vyner glanced at him in mystification.

  “Hartley is a great gardener,” explained the ot
her with a satisfied smile. “What is the result? He can go there when he likes, so to speak. No awkwardness or anything of that sort. He can turn up there bold as brass to borrow a trowel, and take three or four hours doing it.”

  “You’re a danger to society,” said Robert, shaking his head.

  “People ought to marry while they’re young,” said the captain. “If they don’t, like as not they’re crazy to marry in their old age. There’s my landlord here at Tranquil Vale, fifty-two next birthday, and over his ears in love. He has got it about as bad as a man can have it.”

  “And the lady?” inquired Robert.

  “She’s all right,” said the captain. He lowered his voice confidentially. “It’s Peter’s sister, that’s the trouble. He’s afraid to let her know. All we can do is to drop a little hint here and a little hint there, so as to prepare her for the news when it’s broken to her.”

  “Is she married?” inquired Robert, pausing as they reached the office.

  “No,” said Captain Trimblett; “widow.”

  Mr. Vyner gave a low whistle. “When do you sail, cap’n?” he inquired, in a voice oily with solicitude.

  “Soon as my engine-room repairs are finished, I suppose,” said the other, staring.

  “And you — you are giving her hints about courtship and marriage?” inquired Mr. Vyner, in tones of carefully-modulated surprise.

  “She’s a sensible woman,” said the captain, reddening, “and she’s no more likely to marry again than I am.”

  “Just what I was thinking,” said Mr. Vyner.

  He shook his head, and, apparently deep in thought, turned and walked slowly up the stairs. He was pleased to notice as he reached the first landing that the captain was still standing where he had left him, staring up the stairs.

  CHAPTER III

  IN a somewhat ruffled state of mind Captain Trimblett pursued his way toward Tranquil Vale, a row of neat cottages situated about a mile and a half from the town, and inhabited principally by retired mariners. The gardens, which ran down to the river, boasted a particularly fine strain of flag-staffs; battered figure-heads in swan-like attitudes lent a pleasing touch of colour, and old boats sawn in halves made convenient arbours in which to sit and watch the passing pageant of the sea.